Defending Love or Country?
by Baromosa
Summary: Baromosa is a soldier for the last remnants of the fallen federation that once spanned across the galaxy. Fighting to preserve the peace, he doesn't count on falling in Love with a princess involved in the diplomacy. A Star Wars like universe, but my own.
1. Chapter 1

Defending Love or Country?  
By Anthony Jackson

Prologue: It is a time of battle and conquest in the universe. The Federation has been disbanded, breaking into hundreds of factions across the galaxy and destroying the peace that had so long prospered. Dark warrior king _Zulin the Fearsome_ ravages planet sides from mighty starships, carelessly blazing entire populations in the fires of war for unknown reasons.

Above the skies of a backwater planet, a lone transport exchanges weapon fire with Zulin's command ship. As laser cannons crackle and blast away at the hopelessly overpowered vessel, ensigns are awoken to fulfill the oaths they took and defend against the inevitable boarding. A rag tag alliance from last remnants of the Federation now clings for life aboard the bridge of the doomed transport, devising a plan of escape from Zulin's near fatal ambush.

Chapter 1: The Ambush

One ensign aboard the _Starlight's Destiny_ was asleep when Zulin's warship slowed into the Bistari system and opened fire. The massive warship effortlessly disabled its shields in a matter of moments and continued with the deadly first strike of red laser blasts as it approached for boarding.

"Kaze, take a spare power pack." Baro said tossing him one of his before pulling his combat vest out of a footlocker.

"Its not like we're going to last that long. Didn't you hear the stories? Zulin dismantled the planetary defenses of Asboron in under a hour." Kaze said sadly, his voice soft and weak.

"Yes, but he wouldn't dare destroy a ship bearing a diplomat. Capture it maybe, and that's why we're here." Baro said patting Kaze on the back.

The corporal across from them perked up at hearing this. "That's right, give 'em hell to the last man!" he shouted, encouraging a cheer from everyone in the room. Just then an officer ran into the room out of breath.

"Meet up in the hall intersection for briefing and posting, Comm system is out so that's why I'm here my self and not screaming at you from the bridge. Now MOVE IT!" he yelled and ran into the next room.

Baro snapped his helmet on and hooked its tracking system to his rifle, bringing a small green targeting reticule across a small green eyepiece over his left eye. "Ready?" Baro asked Kaze while he did the same for his violet eyepiece.

"Ready as I'll ever be, lets hit it." Kaze grunted and charged in the hall with the other men to help build their momentum. Baro joined right in the chaos, running into the hall way shouting and yelling battle cries to raise morale.

"Alright, alright, quiet down." Shouted the commander. Baro welcomed the surprised of seeing him before the battle, Commander Juan had always acted like he was one of them, it wouldn't surprise Baro if he fought side by side with his subordinate ensigns. Juan now looked at every man around him and met their eyes; Baro noticed how everyone perked up at seeing him just as he had. "In a few moments we shall face the inevitable, conflict with armed forces. You've seen the tapes in your training, now your going to see what it is like when there's a real blaster in your face. Some of you may be afraid, and there is no shame in that. But what separates men from the warriors is that we shall not be conquered by fear before that battle." Juan stopped and seemed to look at Baro for his next sentence. "Remember why you fight, we need your strength to pull through together. Without every last one of your hearts working with us, we all fall. But if we hold firm we will buy enough time to execute the escape plan, and that is main objective. If the princess does not escape Zulin's capture, there is no hope for the Federation."

At this the Commander activated his rifle, the same basic issue one all the ensigns had received at the end of basic training. "Lieutenant, Give these men their positions. Now it is time to fulfill your oaths. I'll see you out there. Good luck warriors."

After he marched off with his officers to seal the forward port where Zulin would most likely cut through first, the other officers handed out cards that must have been made last minute. Baro got his on the back of a mess hall menu that had written in black 'E-17', obviously junction E section 17. Walking with Kaze, he asked, "So, you think we have half a shot at this?"

"No." Kaze smiled, "but it will give me a chance to try out our new issue grenades. I've been itching to try their new sticky feature…"

Baro laughed and checked the settings on his rifle before crouching behind the barricades set up at E-17. "Where are you headed?" Baro asked him as he started to walk away.

"To E-15, We'll try and hold them off before you get a whack at 'em." Kaze said with a hint of depression.

"Yea well save a few for me will yeh? I haven't fired live ammo in so long I almost forgot what it sounds like." They both laughed and Baro hunkered down next to the three other soldiers assigned with him. Rumbles kept shaking everything and rattled Baro's already shaken head. Crackles cracked and sparks flew as power surges went through the ship, letting every soul know the enemy was coming.

"The main reactor must have been hit." Grunted the man next to Baro as the lights went out. The darkness always frightened Baro more then other things, he didn't mind creepy animals or heights or anything else, but it was darkness or maybe rather the absence of light that scared him.

He didn't have long to worry about the black surrounding him; through his green eyepiece he could see clearly that E-15 was tensing up. A cutting torch sparked and sizzled the pressure door, their ship must have already been docked with a boarding shuttle. Zulin's soldiers were a lot more efficient then their own Baro noted, even the training video for a perfect boarding wasn't so precise in timing.

Baro locked his rifle into place and spied through his eyepiece at the door, it was down and the screaming that echoed down the corridor meant they were through. "Here they come!" Baro shouted, finally seeing the enemy for the first time.

Dark gray armor covered all of their vital parts with heavy plating, just like in the training video. Tubes and hoses shown through the cracks in their armor, supposedly balancing each soldier's chemical intake including adrenaline and various steroids depending on the situation. Bright green eyes glowed from their helmets, making Baro hesitate for a moment at the fear they seemed to generate around them. That is until one of Zulin's hellish soldiers made way past E-15, Baro immediately began sniping the critical points like he had been taught to in basic training.

A low whine and pop came from his gun's barrel from the light squeeze of the trigger and down stumbled the first of Zulin's forces, falling down clutching the leg where Baro had broken through. His squad followed his lead, seeing that these demons were mortal seemed to take away any hesitation that previously was forced upon them. Blue lasers exchanged with Zulin's red ones, waves of fire sizzling and scoring the walls around them. Occasionally screams would come from an obvious human voice and Baro had to cringe each time to forget Kaze could have been any one of them.

"We can't hold them, fall back! Fall back to the bridge!" A sergeant screamed over the intercoms. This only encouraged Zulin's men, they seemed to revel in the fact a retreat had been sounded and three more of them charged up to the barriers at E-17.

Letting out a savage war cry Baro clubbed the first one with his rifle, sending him and the rifle uselessly to the floor. The next one grappled Baro and they struggled with each other by the arms while the battle surged around them, leaving them to face one another alone. Baro just bit his lip and growled as the soldiers' hands squeezed and tore at his muscle with the added strength of cybernetic implants. When he could take no more, Baro lets out a scream and fought his hands forward, ripping off his opponent's helmet. With three powerful head butts, Baro beat him to the floor and gave him one last savage kick before collapsing behind the barrier.

The ensign looked over at Baro out of breath, "That was amazing, he must have been a full foot taller then you!" the ensign cried in disbelief.

Baro examined his left arm, bleeding from the encounter. "They can't be human, at least not any more. Look at what just his hands did to my arm." The ensign nodded and wiped blood off his rifles bayonet. "Come on, we have to get to the bridge before E-15 falls completely. They can't hold them forever."

Baro lets out a deep breath and nodded, getting up slowly before trying to run with the only man left on his squad. No one had to say anything; he knew the others must have been killed by the third solider. Reaching the turbolifts, they rode up to the bridge deck like every other man and women would have to. 'We need to hold the bridge…' Baro thought to himself. 'But what if they are not after the bridge. E-15 would only lead them too…'

"Computer, stop this lift." Baro said looking at the surprised ensign.

"What the hell are you doing?" the ensign said softly, too weak to resist with much effort.

"We need to get to engineering, that's where they will head when section E falls." Baro said confidently and hit the control panel. "Computer, Main engineering."

Section F – Main Engineering 

"Sir, E-17 just fell." Screamed a marine, sealing the barricade set up in the corridors. Commander Juan just continued his work on the panel he was activating.

"Very well, do we have any spare marine units available?" Juan asked firmly.

"No sir, the retreat was ordered too soon. Most of our men are on top level, and with the Comm blackout we can't signal for help."

Juan nodded and sighed deeply. Then he grunted inquisitively when he starred at the control panel and noticed a power surge in the turbolift. It had changed directions, coming directly for engineering.

"Grab some cover!" he yelled pointing his gun at the turbolift doors. "The lift from E section is heading down here. O'Connor, take the left hallway. Henry, your with me." Everyman was on edge and sweat appeared on Juan's brow, dripping off his gray eyebrows.

When Baromosa stepped out from the turbolift he looked surprised but walked out calmly and saluted his commander with the other ensign beside him. "Baromosa reporting in to assist." He said, arms shaking slightly from the fires burning around the control panels unchecked.

"I'm glad you're here, we need everyman we've got and there's no way to contact the bridge. We have to hold our own, but I've been in worst spots. Go and take cover on the left side, they'll be charging in front of you in moments." Juan pointed with his rifle towards the sealed blast doors, but his face grimaced at what he saw. Blue light was glowing from the door, making it swelter and twist from incredible heat.

Some solider who had been facing a panel yelled, "There coming!" dropping all of his work and grabbing the gun on his side. "They're using a plasma cannon to eat through the barriers."

"Everyone brace yourselves, fire as soon as the doors our down!" the commander ordered, ducking down behind the console and activating his virtual eyepiece. His was different then Baro's, when he activated the helmet an eyepiece was displayed by a hologram over his vision powered by a built in power source. It displayed all shorts of information and Baro admired it quickly, but went back to his own gun and activated its tracking system. It read a massive power source at the door, obviously the liquid like plasma that bonded itself to the door creating an extreme exothermic reaction.

When the door broke through five armored troops marched slowly through the breach with guns above their heads, looking like they surrendered. This made everyone stop and watch through their scopes. Even Juan never fired a shot, but Baro was sure if one of them so much as flinched the wrong way they'd get melted into the wall siding.

Regardless of their reactions, the soldiers made two lines against the side of the room and faced each other, dropping into attention. Then slowly, and old man in black robes and a dark blue cape walked into the room. He had short gray hair, a small white beard on his chin, and steel eyes that seemed to drive into Baro's soul. On his belt hung a black steel scabbard and the hilt of what appeared to be a sword but Baro wasn't sure.

"Put your guns away gentlemen." He said coolly. The few wrinkles on his face moved when he talked, showing signs of slight annoyance. "There's no sense in you being beat here. Zulin didn't even see fit to come here himself, he sent his apprentice. Me."

Juan starred at the apprentices face a moment, then with lightning quick speed grabbed his side arm and fired two shots before even Baro noticed. Two rounds of energy broke into the plasma conduit directly above the troops and exploded downward. The old man simply moved his hands and diverted all of the super heated plasma at his own men on his sides, melting their armor like wax. Screams of agony filled the room, and Baro took the time to act while this strange spell warrior worked his magic.

"Follow me! Get to the Bridge!" Baro screamed, hitting the emergency lock down controls near Juan. A giant door started to close down engineering, leaving the trapped apprentice scowling as he kept the plasma from hitting him with some invisible power.

"Now their only way to capture the ship is through the bridge, they won't be able to breach the doors. Sadly that will cut power from most of the ship, but it will keep shields up and life support. Good work Baro" Juan patted him on the back. "Alright, everyone take whatever route you can to the Bridge, take the service tubes if you have to. We might just win yet."

Baro watched as the door slowly came to a complete close, then shouldered his rifle and started his ascent up the tubes. 'I can't believe I just did that, didn't even realize what I was doing until… after I did it. That's not normal.' He thought to himself, wondering what inspired him to take command of the situation. 'The bulkheads and blast doors will hold, drilling through would be like drilling the outer hull of the ship, its insane.'

It wasn't long before they reached the top level; this small victory over such a powerful warrior was invigorating. When they reached the top Juan, Baro, and the Lieutenant were the first up. Stepping through the broken hallways and teal blue flooring, they reached the bridge. There was a giant round table in the center that was used for holographic displays and communications, and side computer terminals on the outer walls. Blue uniformed soldiers filled all of the seats, and the blue and tan armor of the marines were scattered around the room. Around the holo-table stood three non-military humans. The first two didn't catch Baro's eye, just normal upper class men. But the third was a dark skinned woman of 19, just around Baro's age. She wore a light blue silk dress that clung to her feminine body and held her dark hair back in a bun. The three of them were deep in study on the holo-table, depicting the battle overhead they were fighting.The woman looked up at him for a moment when she noticed the three of them. She smiled quickly and returned to her work, but her soft brown eyes gave him an odd feeling of security. Baro quickly snapped out of it when the entire ship shook again as it was hit by another barrage of laser fire.

"We can't hold them off princess, we need to sound the escape pods if we are to have any hope of survival." One of the officers addressed the woman Baro had noticed.

She shook her head and a concerned look swept her face. "We need a distraction first, I won't let our men die hopelessly. Any escape pods would be shot down before they ever came close to Bistari." The princess sighed deeply and looked sad. She was so calming to him he walked over to the holo-table, pretending like he knew what he was looking at so he could get a better view of the princess. Her eyes were very soft, but deep and saddened.

"How much longer will it be until soldiers get to the bridge?" Juan asked. Before anyone answered Baro interjected a comment.

"I don't think that is relevant, Zulin will destroy this ship before he allows a victory. Defeating his boarding party will only but time, if this takes too long he will destroy us." Baro said confidently, putting the gravity of the situation in his voice.

Everyone shot him dirty looks for dismissing the commander's question, but the princess looked at him in agreement. "He's right, we need a real plan." She said softly, in deep thought.

One of the officers looked up and offered a suggestion, "Well, we could rotate the ship at and angle to block his sensors and targeting. That way we could fire the escape pods before he could get a lock."

Everyone nodded in agreement and another added, "We could even dump the reactor waste to make like a smoke screen, that should block him good enough."

The princess looked up a little brighter and said, "Ok, everyone to the escape pods then. I need a few men to volunteer not to leave until the last possible moment, we need to ensure everyone's escape."

Baro's hand flew up immediately, as did several others. Apparently Baromosa was not the only one mesmerized by the princess. Red lights flashed again and Baro heard the more familiar sizzling pop of twisting metal. The doors were glowing blue from plasma eating it away again. The marines hunkered down, and Baro drew his weapon before standing in front of the holo-table. "All right, it's time to end this." Baro yelled.

Before the door was all the way down, Baro switched his rifle to full automatic and opened fire into the door, tearing into the soft steel and scoring whatever was on the other side. Blaster fire quickly came through the whole as well, causing the marines to join in and Baro backed up to grab some cover. It wasn't long until there was only one escape pod left on the bridge, starboard pods could be seen launching from the window so Baro knew the rest of the ship was getting to safety.

Zulin's troops broke through and unleashed weapons of much heavier firepower then standard rifles. Five marines were taken out so quickly Baro froze. It was like watching a waterfall of fire.

"Princess, you must leave." Baro yelled. "We only have 11 of us left, and the pod only fits three. Soon we'll all be dead if you don't leave now."

She started to complain, but soon there were only 2 other marines left pushed against the wall with the escape pod with Baro and Ember. Wordlessly Baro opened the pod and pulled her in. A laser blast whistled by his ear, and another took out the first marine. Baro pulled the last one in before taking a direct hit on his helmet and knocked him off his feet and slamming back into the pod.

The marine and the princess activated the pod, sending them spiraling to Bistari. While Baro struggled for consciousness he found himself looking into the princesses eyes when she came to look him over, and everything turned black except the bright glow of the planet getting closer.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Baromosa felt his head throbbing when he woke up. Laying down on a fold out cot he turned over on his stomach and kept his eyes closed, moaning quietly into his pillow.

"Good morning to you too." A feminine voice said softly from across the room. He turned on his side to look up quickly, startled to hear the new voice in the room.

"Ugh, My head." Baro groaned at her laying on his back. Surprisingly she got up and knelt beside him.

"Are you alright? When I pulled you out of the pod you were bleeding a lot… we don't have a doctor and the other marine died." She said picking up his arm and looking at the dried blood around this wound from the soldier. Her mouthed gasped slightly and he moved when he felt her warm touch.

"Yea I'm fine." Baro said and laid back down. His muscles started to relax and he let out a slow breath. "What happened when I was out?" he asked gruffly and looked back at her.

She smiled and went back to her chair to fumble with a broken data pad about the size of her palm. "The pod landed in an urban area not to far from the capital. In the confusion I was able to get us to this abandoned cabin, no one should notice. It isn't a very… sought after part of town." After a few moments she suddenly cut her self on a glass shard from the data pad's broken screen and let out a small yelp, dropping the metal object.

"Are you alright princess?" Baro said and rolled out of bed, going over to her side.

"I'm fine, it's just a small cut. Stupid data pad." She said disgustedly and watched Baro while he took her hand and examined it. "Really, you don't need to worry. You're more hurt then I am."

He nodded and looked up at her while he dug through his vest for something to heal it. "My name's Baromosa by the way." Baro told her and took her hand gently, opening her fingers they felt so fragile in his large hands. "This might seem like an obvious question but I'm new to the federation, why were you on this mission?" He asked her, but his real intention was to distract her from the sting she was about to feel.

"My name's Ember. My mother was a diplomat like me, I was chosen to.." The princess began while Baro took out a small stick of green gel wrapped in silver foil. He took a small bit of it and touched it gently to her cut, and it sizzled a small drop into the blood and sealed the skin together with a small puff of smoke. "OW!" Ember yelped sharply and grabbed Baro's hand. "That hurt.." She complained but held back a tear.

"I'm sorry, but this will make sure you won't get infected out here." Baro said softly and rubbed her hand before she took it away and looked down at the data pad by her feet.

"Thank you ensign." She stated quietly and picked up the data pad before walking to the other side of the room quickly. Baro ignored it and took her former seat to look around the cabin. It had the standard arrangement for living quarters; tables with glass surfaces and metal casing with glow lights embedded in the tops, metal beds that were built into the wall like catacombs, and an all purpose counter with drawers and utensils inside. The lights were a dim yellow and for a moment Baro felt safe just sitting in the chair and waiting for something to happen. Ember took another seat, but eventually came back over to Baro's table to chat while she worked on her broken device.

"What are you trying to do?" he asked curiously. Ember kept looking intent at the data pad with a blank stare, unsure on how to go about it.

"We can use the escape pod's computer to locate the other pods because it can be too easily traced… I wanted to use the components in this to make some sort of relay or transceiver." She said weakly from the confusion of the problem. Baro almost wanted to smirk like he did when his little sister tried things too big for her, but the bruise to his head made him more docile.

"It's too dangerous trying to find them, if anything we do is traced the other teams won't have a rallying point. They are no doubt trying to find us as we speak." Baro said softly thinking about the situation. He got up and took a look at the data pad in her hands. She seemed to submit to him even though he wasn't using force, she gave him the busted device before he even motioned for it. "We should see if we can get use of a public computer, something to read the local news on that wouldn't be suspicious. If Zulin has started to pressure anyone to find us the media will know."

Ember nodded and stretched her back, moaning softly. "I don't want to stay here long, the peace conference will never ever start now." She said with a touch of sadness.

"Peace Conference? On Bistari? But why here, why would a neutral planet want to help us." Baro asked her with a new interest. Politics always interested him, he remembered debating with his friends in the academy. Ember seemed to have a keen mine about the workings of political science too, she calmly explained about how the leader of Bistari was a secret federation sympathizer. Often Baro interrupted with a discreet question but she smiled and answered happily to him, enjoying the discussion. Ember also knew about the corruption in the Federation's council, supposed scandals of the higher ranking generals, and some interesting facts about the more powerful factions.

During their conversation, Baro and Ember both seemed to relax and their chairs and talk like friends. They talked about what brought them to this mission and laughed about Ember's dislike for her dress.

"Well Ember, I think we should at least take a look around the area. If we need to leave quickly I'd prefer if we both knew the surroundings a little better, would you like to take a walk with me?" Baro asked her softly, hoping she would like to continue their delightful discussion.

"Ok, but Baro…" She said and looked down at her feet.

"What is it princess?" he asked her with slight worry and curiosity.

"I don't want to walk around in this dress…it clings too much and makes me trip and…. I just don't want it." She whimpered feeling helpless in the silk covering her everywhere.

"I'll trade for some clothes if we see any, it would be good to blend in more anyway." He said and looked around the room for anything to make he more comfortable. Pulling out the drawers in the counter Baro found a plain set of girl's pants and a white shirt. "We'll these do for now?" he asked her and gave her the clothes.

She nodded but blushed looking around the room. "What's the matter?" he asked her softly, afraid that he had done something.

"I… don't see anywhere to change." She said simply and turned red when Baro gave her a strange look.

"I forgot, my father told me most cultures had customs about modesty. Its true, you really are embarrassed about changing in front of me?" Baro laughed a little and she turned redder in her cheeks.

"No man has ever been around me this much, and certainly not see me change!" She said quickly and looked away from Baro.

"I'm sorry Ember, I was taught it was a silly custom though. You shouldn't be ashamed about how you look, or afraid of what I'll say. You are what you are, but would you feel more comfortable if I was outside while you changed?" Baro asked her quietly, not wanting to scare her.

"Yeah I would, you don't think I'm being silly do you?" She asked him looking back over at his eyes.

"No I don't, that's how you were taught. There's no shame in that, I'll be outside if you need me." Baro smiled and walked outside, pocketing his side arm in his vest and leaving his rifle behind. He also quickly removed his federation symbols and pins off his uniform and secured them in a pocket so he wouldn't attract attention.

After several minutes Ember came out of the cabin and stepped into the cool shade of a deciduous tree. The summer's bright colors around her complimented her features in the plain clothing. "Everything looks ok?" She asked him, turning around in a circle like she would do for her friends when she was younger.

"You look great." He said and stood up straight, looking around the area. The streets in this area had been at one time remodeled to resemble old fashions, with stone bricks lining the walkways and the steel walls of buildings tarnished to remove the shine from the sun.

Few birds could be noticed since the area offered little actual wild life, even the trees had to be fed by small round droids that flew around like insects injecting the trees with nutrients. Little children still played in the grass and Ember smiled when the boys chased the girls around the tree they had been watching. "It's very nice here, why did you say this was a undesirable part of the city?" Baro asked Ember quietly, disrupting her thoughts.

"It's very rare, most of the other parts that we are surrounded by are filled with gangs, disrepair, and total lawlessness. Most of Bistari is very nice but we were unfortunate enough to land in the only uncivilized part." Ember said softly still watching the children. She then looked over to him as if for some comfort about what she just said.

"Perhaps its better that way, the more uncoordinated it is here the less likely we will be noticed." Baro said and thought for a moment. Sounding happier at his next thought, her asked, "Have you been here before?"

Ember smiled and walked by him down the streets towards a public recreation center. "My father brought me around everywhere, we used to stay in a house by the beaches. The water felt so good in the hot sun, I still dream about those summers sometimes." She moved her shirt slightly and looked back around them to see if there was anything interesting.

Baro looked at her softly and continued with her down the alleys to where groups of people were standing around a holo-vid. On the holo-pad a women dressed in professional clothing read from a script. "Today the Prime minister formally denounced rumors of a space battle over head despite several military accounts of a conflict between a star transport and Zulin's mighty command ship. This apparent misunderstandment will not be challenged officially as Zulin and Bistari delegation negotiates a peace treaty. In other news…"

"Did you hear that Baro?" Ember whispered with anger in her voice. He saw her eyes widen and she wrapped and arm around his so she could lean in close and whisper. "That can't be, I've known the minister for a long time, we were friends since we were children. What's going on? That can't be…" She stopped talking and pulled Baro out of the crowd since she realized where they were.

"Do you suspect something?" Baro asked her lowly. She let go of his hand and stood in the way of the sun, back lighting her hair to him.

"I do, there must be something wrong. I don't know how but I think we need to get to that peace conference, even if it is a trap by Zulin." Ember put her hands on her side and looked around until she spotted a terminal. When she ran off Baro chased her.

"Wait! It's too dangerous. I'm only one soldier and I can't protect you, at least not without a plan. Did you have a idea or something?" Baro asked her with a critical look to their surroundings.

Ember stood silent for a moment and thought about it before looking back at Baro. "How well can you swim?"

Three Hours Later

After a leisurely ride down the metro train over the sea and straight into the capital city Baro and Ember got ready to get off into the station. From out on the water they saw a giant metropolis out on the water, built of white and light gray steel and the sun reflecting off every part. Through confusing lines and security checks Ember led him into a small park that overlooked the palace, supposedly where the peace conference took place.

Two guards took position near the front gates, the same soldiers that had boarded the 'Starlight's destiny'. They looked uncaringly through their helmets and had been placed, maybe hundreds at a time, through out the walls.

"Alright, how do we get in there?" Baro asked with a sigh. Ember seemed so confident, it was inspiring a way but what good is inspiration when you're dead.

"Well, I remember when we were kids we used to play in the water fountain. He knew all of the secret places, even the water filled tunnels that led to the bedchambers. Apparently they love indoor water falls too." Ember said and hunched over the drop of the waterfall.

Baro stiffened when he knew what she wanted to do. "Um… Ember." He looked down at her and then looked away. Shuffling his feet he said, "I can't swim."

She almost laughed but when she realized he was serious she came over to him and looked at his eyes. "It's ok Baro, I'll help you all the way." Ember smiled and grabbed his hand. "Don't let go." She said and he grabbed around her waist before they plunged down into the waterfall.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

They were swiftly washed down into a cave, Ember laughing and Baro screaming all the way as the dark current seemed to laugh back at them. He had been through a lot in his time traveling across his home world, but never before had he been totally surrounded by water like now. Clinging to Ember as much as her wet clothes did, Baro closed his eyes and waited for it to be over, pressing her up against him for comfort from nearly freefalling.

When they both splashed into the water, Ember quickly pulled Baro along knowing he didn't want to spend any extra time swimming like she did. Since the passage they were in was made of dark gray stone and had no lighting, she knew they were safe and pulled Baro onto a slab of dry gray rock.

"Baro, Are you ok?" She asked him, wiping the wet hair from his face and rubbing his back. She was a little embarrassed about how her shirt clung to her but right now she wanted to take care of Baro.

He choked on water and muttered, "You're nuts." He smiled and nodded his head. "I'm alright."

Sitting up together, Baro caught his breath and looked over to Ember. Her clothes were wet and stuck to the curves of her body, but even in the dark he could see her bright brown eyes starring at him, telling him she was too innocent to be looked at that way.

Still starring at each other, Ember shifted her legs nervously and broke the silence of the waterfall first.

"We're inside now, but I feel so lost… What do we do next?" she asked him biting her lip in embarrassment.

"You mean you don't have a plan?" Baro asked her with a surprised look. "So your saying that we went down a water fall into a heavily guard fortress for all intents and purposes… we don't have a plan and now my boots are soaked." He said with a slight tone of annoyance, but mostly humor. 'She's such a goof.' Baro thought to himself and under normal circumstances would have smiled.

After a few minutes the princess murmured, "I'm sorry about your boots." She looked down at her toes that were now bare and curled into a ball.

"It's alright, but we need a plan to get you out of here as soon as were done." Baro suggested, taking his pistol out and draining it of water. "Just stay behind me, I'll try and find our way around." Baro got up and offered a hand to her.

She took it quickly but looked at him with crossed eyes. "Why? You don't think I can do it?" she asked him, throwing Baro's hand back to him.

Looking down Baro stepped around her and looked for a door. "No, but I'm the one with the gun." He said simply, ignoring how she snapped at him.

"I'm sorry." She said shortly.

"It's alright."

Silence filled the room as Ember stared at him for a while as he felt the walls like a blind man, searching for cracks and spaces. Finally hearing a click and sliding open a secret door, Baro smiled with satisfaction as light flooded the cavern. Activating the pistol Baro slowly walked into the hall and looked around, then motioned to Ember the coast was clear.

She gave a relieved sigh and tried not to think too much about the cold tile under her feet. 'I shouldn't have snapped at him, it's my fault we're stuck in this mess anyway.' Ember thought to herself and found that she was staring at he back of Baro's hair. 'I wonder what he thinks of me? I hope he isn't mad.' She started to worry slightly as they hid around corners and tried to stay away from the glass windows and brightly lit candles.

Sneaking around to a darker hallway, Baro looked around and found a small duct he could crawl through, but didn't want to leave Ember alone in such a dangerous place. "Come on." He whispered and took her hand to pull her along quicker. She gave a small whimper in complaint but was pretty quiet since the firm feeling of his hand on hers was unsettling in a strange way.

"Baro." She whispered and stumbled over her feet, giving out a small, uncomfortable sigh. "Where are we going?"

"I'm finding a way out of here… there must be a shuttle bay somewhere." He concluded but froze when he saw two men coming around the corner. Not caring who they were, Baro backed Ember up around another corner and opened a grate on the floor, most likely a ventilation system. Jumping down first to make sure it was safe, Baro pulled her in. "Sorry princess." He said quickly and even though she complained he squeezed her through and closed the grate behind him.

"Baro I'm scared." She wined, holding on to his hand. He gently quieted her with a small whisper because he was sorry to force her into hiding but needed her silent. When she opened her mouth to speak again, Baro put his arms around her and held her close to him so she won't say anything.

She moved around against him but the feel of his muscles made her weak and she put her head in his chest, taking in his smell. 'This is… nice somehow. He smells so different.' Ember thought to her self and started to hold on to him as the two men waked past the grate. Baro put his hand through her hair and ran through in gently, trying to show her that his touch was to keep her safe.

Suddenly a voice disturbed their embrace. "Yes, I think my master will agree to those terms. With the new treaty signed within the hour, you should have no problem taking control of the monarchy. Do we have a deal?" said a old man, just as confident as Zulin's apprentice.

"Well I don't know, I won't be convinced until I see the princesses head on my desk." A raspy voice replied to him, making the old man sigh.

"Yes, yes. We will find her. Most of the escape pods have already been dealt with, only two remain and they are already well under way."

The metal clanking of boots and their voices made Ember shiver in Baro's arms and she struggled not to let out a wine. Grasping at his arms she waited with him as Baro listened intently to the conversation at hand. 'This is bad… we might as well not even try to relocate the others. Only one team left of maybe three guys…' Baro thought but the old man disrupted his thinking again.

"So you will give full support to my master? He would be most displeased if he came here for nothing." The apprentice added, not bothering to hide the coldness of his voice.

"Yes, after the execution and the princess has been dealt with… yes. We will finish wiping out the federation on this pathetic planet." The weaker of the two mumbled and they continued down the hallway until Baro and Ember couldn't hear them.

"Execution? Do they mean…" Ember trailed off as her eyes widened into Baro's.

Baro just looked at her and whispered, "I think we need to find your friend."

xX Second Floor of the Palace Xx

"Ember would you hurry up!" Baro whispered urgently as he took out his pistol and got ready to do as they had planned out. She breathed heavily and ran behind him, hair a mess around her.

"I'm trying!" she wheezed out and put a hand on her neck when she caught up. Secretly Baro thought she was a little sexy like this, with her shirt twisted around her waist and how she bend just so to tease him unpurposely while she heaved. His only reaction was to adjust his pistol slightly and wait up, oh and try not to get her killed. That was on the to do list.

"This is nuts Ember. Even if we get through the guards with the guns, get through the doors we can't open, and save the guy with no cameras spotting us and not getting seen or nothing." Baro stopped for a moment to make his point.

"What are you saying?" Ember said and looked up at him weakly.

"We're just supposed to walk out of here with the leader of this planet with no body stopping us?" he asked her with a raised eye brow.

"Yea that's the plan." She said and looked past him down the hallway.

"Ok, lets go." He said simply and went a long with it. What the hell, if it worked he might get a medal. If not… well it's not like he had a better plan.

As the meeting downstairs progressed which seemed to be as Baro could hear just an excuse to drink and make the new 'officials' happy at their job, Ember and Baro sneaked around up stairs avoiding the guards. It wasn't too hard; most of them were outside the palace entrances as a show or force and didn't really except any actual action.

Eventually as every mission does, Baro made a mistake. When they had found the bedroom of their target, where he would most definitely be held since he was no fighter in any sense from the description Ember had given him, Baro just opened the door.

That was a mistake. The door was tripped with an alarm and as he did that three guards in the room they tried to enter were alerted and more were certainly on the way. A siren blared in the background and a pause between it was just long enough to here Baro swear, "Shit!"

One of the guards fired two rounds to get Baro to back off put he wasn't going to give up now, after all he had nothing else to do. "Get down!" he yelled and pushed Ember to the side, raising his pistol and firing a head shot on the closest one. The unlucky soldiers helmet was torn apart from the range and made the other two look a lot fiercer as their weapons went up.

This time Baro backed off around the other door as in it was blown apart into splinters and carbon scoring appeared further down the hallway as they missed into air. "Run Princess!" he shouted and pushed her down the hallway running, jumping out into the hallway himself and fired a lot of rounds quickly to provide enough time in their inaction for her to escape.

"Baro!" she cried as a tear came to her eye but she soon started running and tried not to look back, but she did so anyway and watched as Baro exchanged fire and eventually was grazed on the arm.

"ARGGH!" he yelled out fiercely and moved forward towards them still firing, and thankfully they weren't good shot or he would have been dead before what he did next. Then again the bad guys in book are never good shots Baro thought, even ones with green eyes and black armor.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Ember, still running, found somewhere to hide and watch Baro charge toward the soldiers. Her chest heaved out short gasps of air uncontrollably and more tears fell off her face like the blood off Baro's arm. 'He's nuts… why would he fight them?' Ember thought to herself still scared for their lives until her breathing suddenly stopped at her next thought. 'Baro is trying to save me.'

A stray laser blast exploded the marble wall near Ember's face making her jump a bit; leaving blackened smoke rising from the hole. She turned her attention back to Baro who was still fighting on, even while she was still not sure whether to watch or run away like he asked.

Baro's thoughts were much more erratic. Bashing the nearest man's helmet with his gun, he put his plan into action. His pistol attachment clicked into place and with another pop Baro aimed toward the ceiling and was hoisted into the air rather quickly. A bit too slow however, even as his grappling hook took him higher a laser caught him in the foot before it was able to clear the opening of the door.

Pain burned in his foot and made his hands slip on his pistol, but Baro grinded his teeth past the scream he tried to muffle and kept going until he reached something on the ceiling he could grab onto. He kept his feet resting on the wall and used one hand to hold onto the grappling hook while his other hand unclipped the pistol and aimed below waiting for another guard to come down.

'Just a few more.' Baro thought, knowing he couldn't use too much time before more guards arrived. Of course two guards immediately came out of the room, just how he wanted. Baro fired his shots and zeroed one of them in the head sending him uselessly to the ground, and Baro simply let go and fell on the other one. A smirk spread across his face when the last guard stood there in shock of how Baro subdued three men so quickly, giving Baro enough time to fire another two shots into his chest and run back towards Ember.

"I told you to get out." He whimpered as he was forced to limp because of his foot. Baro looked at her concerned and almost wanted to argue because of how dangerous it was.

"Baro, you're bleeding. I can't leave you." She said still crying a little and took his arm to look at it. 'He got this because of me.' Ember thought and tried to walk with him faster but didn't want to hurt his foot any more then it was.

"I wanted to get you out of here, I took an oath for this mission and I'm not going to let you get killed because you wanted to wait." He said trying to make a point but her wide eyes made him speak softly and he knew that it wouldn't change her mind. "Let's just get your friend or who ever and leave." Baro resigned and Ember nodded simply looking down.

'Great Ember, he's probably mad at you.' She thought to herself and walked him back to the royal bedroom as quick as they could, but Ember looked at Baro with every groan he made from his left foot.

Finally Baro saw the rather young looking prince and put him over his shoulder, ignoring the pain. He was pretty well drugged and didn't protest to Baro's hold and didn't make a noise when Baro accidentally hit his head on the door.

"Opps." Baro said wearily and followed Ember's lead out into the hall. "Do you know a way out?" he asked already knowing the answer. 'I hope we make it, I've never been this scared. Or tired for that matter.' Baro's head pounded along with his heart, making his breathing tense with muscle aches.

"I'm thinking…. This looks familiar. If I find a shuttle will that help?" Ember asked him still staying ahead, peering around corners and looking thoughtfully at every detail she tried to recall.

"As apposed to staying here? I'll take the shuttle." Baro tried to smile and shifted the weight of who he was carrying around on his shoulder.

"I think it was this way… well maybe that way." Ember tried to think through the noise of the siren that happened to be ear level to her on the wall. Baro watched her face start to scrunch and suddenly Ember lost it.

Letting out a high scream Ember slammed the red siren light as hard as she could, sending shards of red plastic everywhere from her bruised hands. After she heaved with frustration Baro asked,

"Bring back and memories?"

She looked at him with an 'I can't believe you' look and said, "Just follow me." He smiled behind her even though they were hopelessly lost in the most dangerous situation of their lives. Even in all of this Baro's eyes occasionally rested on how Ember's clothes fit her, and the constant reminder of his foot every other step.

Ember's mind was even more of a mess. Constantly she remembered parts of memories and was about to give up when she smelled something. Lifting her nose in the air she smiled and waved Baro over, running down the hall.

"What is it Ember?" he called after, trying to keep up as best he could. Blood from his arm was swelling in his shirt and he sometimes looked at in curiously since it seemed to burn as it rubbed as well. 'Where is she going?' he thought in between wonderings of how much blood he had spilled of his own.

"My dad always said to follow your nose." Ember said happily and stopped at a unusually wide door. She turned back and gave a grin to Baro that said all of the gloating she wanted to say without having too.

"Can we open it?" Baro asked simply and walked past Ember, ignoring how happy she was with herself. Several shuttles were locked down but a small brown service pod was too old to be considered a risk. That was enough in Baro's mind. The one guard on station was busy messing around with some wires coming out of a droid, so Baro set his pistol to stun and quickly put him to sleep before running to the shuttle with Ember.

"Can you fly?" Ember asked praying the answer was yes. She rested a hand on it's side while Baro placed the prince inside one of the seats. 'He's kind of cute when he's like this.' She thought idly and looked at Baro's hair fall down his face.

"Um…" he said with a slight smile. "I came in the 49th pilot in my class of 50. Does that help?" Baro said watching her mouth drop and he strapped himself into the pilots seat. Ember went to go sit in the back but Baro made a small whistle and patted the seat next to him. "I want you sitting up here." He said. "I need some help with the controls."

She smiled softly and sat in the front seat. "I don't know anything about flying." Ember stated and looked over to Baro. He kept his focus on the controls and tried to avoid Ember's eyes, making her think. 'I can see right through him, I just don't get it. Maybe I bug him a lot, or maybe. Oh I don't know.' Her mind asked a few questions to herself but that stopped when Baro ignited the engines.

"There we go." Baro said happily to himself now that he had sliced the security controls. "Alright, I think I can handle it. You better strap yourself in though." He said and before she could protest the shuttle lurched forward through the bay doors and quickly moved past the palace walls.

Ember just sat back and looked over to Baro. Sweat was still going down her forehead but she was starting to cool down and for the first time really got to look at Baro. Forgetting about everything else she started to talk with him like nothing else would ever happen besides their conversation.

'I feel safe now that Baro got us out of here. Did he hear them talking? If he hadn't helped me I would have stayed in that little house and been captured for sure.' She thought while Baro told her about what his home world was like.

"What about you?" he asked snapping her back into their conversation.

"Oh, I lived on a planet near the capital. We lived in a small little town where my father built a big palace near because he loved it so much. There were a lot of trees and pretty flowers, but I wasn't allowed to go out and play in them." She said softly and looked down to her feet with sad eyes.

"Why not? You couldn't even play in your own backyard?" he asked her confused. 'I love going outside, she must have felt trapped being forced inside all the time.' Baro thought and looked at Ember caringly, feeling that she deserved more then that.

"No, my parents were very concerned for my safety. That's why I joined the federation as a diplomat as soon as I was old enough, I wanted to escape and do something to help others." She said more brightly and looked up at Baro.

"I'm glad you did, you seem like you care a lot about people, even ones you don't know." He told her and put his hands on a control near Ember. As he did that Ember put a hand on his lightly and smiled to him, making him smile back.

After a few moments of them starring at each other, a beep from the computer finally made them realize and looked away in embarrassment.

"I'm going to get some sleep. Do you know where you are going?" Ember asked, walking to the back of the pod and hide from Baro in a small chair.

"I'm taking us to a small city near the capital that they can't track us too. Maybe when the prince wakes up he can help us." Baro replied and secretly blushed a deep red. 'Why did she touch me?' he thought but dismissed that as his heart kept racing because of how nice it felt.

Ember tried to sleep but she starred at Baro working at the control console as her mind raced. 'I touched his hand, oh god what he must be thinking. Did he like it? Oh of course he didn't like it. He just didn't say anything because he's too sweet to. What a mess I'm in, all I do is bug him.' She thought and tried to forget everything and sleep. While the two thought to themselves the prince turned softly in his drugged state silence prevailed in the pod, only broken by the hum of the engines.

Back at the palace, Zulin's apprentice read a small report telling him what he already knew. "So, I did sense his presense." The old man mused to himself.

"Shall we follow them Lord Falion?" a clicking voice asked him.

"No, I want to see what these fools have decided to do. It won't harm anything for a little cat and mouse game. Besides, my master did want them alive. You should be lucky your men didn't kill those two, it was too close last time."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

'Maybe he would like to talk to me.' Ember thought looking at the back of Baro's head after a few hours. She let out a soft sigh and looked down at her two hands neatly folded on her lap like she was so used to doing at formal dances. Most times silence didn't bother her, nor did loud noises since both of times she was usually alone.

'Perhaps if I say something first?' she thought at last and found herself walking back to the front seat of their shuttle. Baro looked up at her with a small smile before going back to the controls for a few minor adjustments.

"We'll be there soon, I'm hovering us while we wait to be cleared by security. It's not royal security so we shouldn't have a problem. Even though we kidnapped a planetary leader… I hope you know what you're doing." Baro started talking to her, but mostly to him self and Ember for the most part listened intently.

As he talked and answered her questions about the shuttles controls, the prince in the back of the shuttle started to stir slightly. Making a small groan, he made Ember jump a bit in her seat and let out a small squeak.

"I think he's waking up." Baro said simply and let Ember go back to check on him. "He better be a fast talker, I don't think they're buying it Ember."

In the back seat Ember kneeled next to the prince and put her hand on his cleanly shaven cheek. Intense amethyst eyes flashed at her with a low, primal look that she didn't remember from when he was a boy. It was similar, but he had changed some how since their childhood. He looked stronger, more confident, and defiantly more masculine.

"Princess Avilor?" he asked with a hint of surprise but slowly brought her little hand in his to kiss it softly. "It's a pleasure to see you again." He added with his eyes still engulfing hers.

'He doesn't even care that he was kidnapped?' Baro thought in the front seat and shook his head as he thought about it. He decided it didn't really matter, but all the same nervously taped the console.

"Prince Syaoran?" she asked softly almost falling to the floor off her knees as she kissed him. He caught her and she was sent into his chest a little, timidly looking up at his dominating eyes slowly. "Are you alright?" Ember asked, turning her cheek behind her long hair and hid her blush.

"I am stable, the drugs are wearing off. After I had been able to fought through the first ones they must have tripled the dosage." Syaoran stated holding his head slightly but shook it off and leered at Ember with his eyes again, sensing that she was already taken with them. His arm started to grasp on hers and move around to her back, making Ember move uncomfortably and turn away from him to sit in the other seat. When she did Syaoran's hand took hers suddenly.

Ember blushed an even darker red since no one had ever shown something like that to her before, but even so after a few seconds she pulled her hand away and sat down where he couldn't reach her. Almost angry that he did that she didn't say another word and starred off into the metal siding of the pod.

"Prince Syaoran, what happened here? Since our starship bit the bullet we haven't had any way of knowing anything about Zulin." Baro asked urgently, trying to snap the two out of their awkward situation.

"Yes, well…" The prince started off slowly, still looking at Ember and then faced Baro. "Zulin's ship has literally an army aboard his command ship. Though most lie above orbit a great number have taken the capital and the surrounding major cities. Supposedly an underground resistance would have been formed, if so they will be harassing the enemy where ever they meet." Syaoran leaned back in his chair and head his head from what must have been one hell of a headache. Ember looked over quickly then looked away still mad at him, but felt a little bad at the same time.

"If you want I can make something for your head." She said quietly, thinking about the emergency kit that most shuttles must have. Ember gripped the edge of her seat with her hands and looked down at her feet feeling tense.

"That would be lovely, but I will be fine. Don't worry yourself, you always did care too much." He said smoothly making Baro crack his knuckles in annoyance.

"I'm getting an encoded signal… it's not anything I know of, looks local though." Baro said suddenly as he looked with new interest at his console. "Syaoran, come over here." He said shortly and waved him over.

"Yes?" Syaoran said tiresomely and walked behind Baro, smirking after a quick glance. "It's the resistance, take us to those coordinates their sending you." He pointed past Baro to the map on the view screen and sat back down next to Ember, giving her another flash of his amethyst eyes before looking away.

'They look like brilliant gems, staring so dominantly… it's exciting in a way. But I don't like that; he always kept me trapped when we were children. Does he still want that?' Ember thought, looking at him unsurely. 'I'm so confused; feeling him grab for me was so exciting. I never been around men before, especially not two so closely.' She played with the ends of her long hair as she thought, stroking the slight curl of black hair.

While her mind raced, Baro's did two while he flew the shuttle past the city into a canyon and a natural cave that seemed to emit a high frequency energy pulse by his sensor readings. 'I wonder if they ever were with each other. It's not like I should care, she's a princess. She's just caring about everyone, and I'm just a solider assigned to protect her. That's all it is.' Baro thought and hid himself from all his other thoughts. 'I'm fine on my own.'

The pod landed on a small pad, not because Baro told it too but a beam automatically took the ship in and deactivated it. "Where here." Baro said with a smirk like he had intended to do that, but all the same activated his pistol, which was starting to look like less then new. If he shook it hard enough water still came out.

The prince on the other hand walked with ease to the door and opened it quickly to walk out. Baro still remained behind him, carefully looking around the caves that to his surprise were well lit. "You can rest easy, we are safe with my own people." Syaoran said coolly.

"Thanks, I feel a lot better." Baro said sarcastically and stopped when he saw three people coming. Baro put his arm out to hold Ember back gently, who stayed behind him, peeking around his shoulder.

"Prince Syaoran Kitomi, thank goodness you arrived safe. We were surprised to learn the federation was able to escape, let alone mount a rescue. Our agents were just planning a way to minimize risks to all invol-…" A younger slick haired man began saying as if he was his best friend.

"Save it Nicoli. I know you wanted to replace me the moment I met you, and its not going to happen. I'm taking over what ever army you've assembled and we will reinstall the monarchy like the people have wanted time and time again." Syaoran said, cutting with his words. His voice was so self assured and overpowering in a charismatic way Nicoli stepped to the side obediently with his head down and Ember hid less behind Baro to walk forward near him, if only because she was curious and no longer afraid.

The six of them walked into the caves that seemed to slowly turn into an adorned war room. Computers and maps were scattered over tables and lights hung from the ceiling with exposed wiring everywhere, obviously done in haste. All the men immediately perked up and seemed to whisper quietly more now that Syaoran arrived, Baro noted the same reverence given by them as he had for Commander Juan.

"This is the situation." An older man said from across the room, Baro could immediately tell from how Syaoran looked at him that this was his real friend. By the medals over his chest he was probably a general too. "We have mounted a guerilla operation that should pass off as the real plan, Zulin doesn't even consider us a threat to begin bombarding this out post which we're fairly sure he knows about."

"So we have other forces I presume?" Syaoran asked.

"Precisely, we plan to launch a small offensive in orbit to distract the command ship while we siege two of the lightest defended cities quickly and blitz the capital before anyone knows anything. Propaganda and revolt rallying has already begun. The people are fiercely loyal to you Prince." The general concluded and went back to work, leaving them to talk with various advisers.

All the while Baro and Ember felt a bit lost and walked by themselves around the secluded parts of the caves. "Is your arm any better?" Ember asked him finally breaking the silence, taking his arm to look at it since the memory of how it happened came back to her.

"It's doing better, I think I could be washed but it's alright." Baro said smiling, walking with her and helping her over rocks. 'She really is caring. She doesn't have to, maybe she'd like to talk though.' Baro thought and started to speak again. "I never did get to ask you something."

"What is it?" Ember asked smiling, motioning for them to sit down so she could look at his arm better. 'He really did get hurt. He's still limping from his foot, and it was all to protect me and my idea. Baro's ok though.' She went through his vest as he talked, leaning over his chest to find some of that healing goop. As she did that, Baro's breathing stopped for a moment sharply and resumed, smelling the sweet scent of her hair close to him.

"When you were alone as a little girl, did you have any animals to play with?" he asked softly, trying not to do anything stupid like put his arm around her. She looked up at him and smiled, taking the foil out and getting the goop ready.

"Well there was this cute squirrel I used to play with. He used to share half of my banana when I didn't want to eat the whole thing." Ember giggled and rested a hand on his leg while her other hand put the goo on his arm, making him flinch his face but other wards remain calm. Baro's heart pounded though, part from pain, the other from how she touched him. When he flinched she shifted her hand on his leg and the rubbing made him blush and look away.

"That sounds really cute." Baro smiled softly and got up to face away from Ember. He crossed his arms a little making Ember want to follow him. Baro tried to not let her near him but she went to his side and made his thoughts of worry even stronger.

"Wait, Baro?" she asked and put a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong? Did I do something?" she asked, and Baro turned to face her, walking closer to her face.

"No, Ember it's nothing you did wrong. It's just that I feel he-" Ember was cut off when Prince Syaoran entered the room making a loud crashing sound with the door. Baro shivered and Ember's hand brushed his as she turned around and saw him.

"There you two are, Princess Avilor? Please come with me. Baromosa you are to report to the war room for posting. Unless you wish to leave, you may do so. Federation contact has not been established. Come Ember." Syaoran said shortly but seemed to warm up when he walked further away from Baro with Ember. 'What were you saying Baro?' she thought but went a long with the Princess, looking at Baro from over her shoulder as they left.

Baro was left standing there thinking to him. "It's just that I feel helpless Ember… I don't know if I can do this." He said to himself and sat down to think by himself, loneliness and silence his two companions for the moment.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Syaoran led Ember deeper into the caves, moving away from the artificially lit base. Ember's eyes drifted curiously along the walls, mumbling short replies to Syaoran's seemingly endless questions. When they finally came to a stop, he sat her down next to him and stared at her again.

Slowly Ember tried to look at other things, but the silence of their breathing made her look at him. 'His face looks so strong…' she thought to herself, finding it hard not to lose her mind in him.

"Ember." He said gently but so firmly to snap her attention to him. "It's been so long, I've heard rumors you have been doing well in the Senate before the war." He asked and his hand moved smoothly onto hers. Ember rested it on her lap, but his hand stayed and grasped around it.

"W-well yes. I was doing pretty well I guess." She said shyly and looked down at her feet and put her hands together. Ember shifted around in her old white shirt and tried to look back up at Syaoran since that was the polite thing to do when they were talking.

"I missed you a lot recently. Every time I saw the stars you used to show me, I thought of you." He said and moved closer to Ember, making her blush and feel uncomfortable near his breathing. Thoughts went through her head of him and her back then, of the day they walked on the beach and he had fallen hurt. Ember had taken care of him the whole night. Syaoran seemed so different now.

"That's nice." She whispered softly as his hand forced her chin to look at him. "Syaoran…" she said weakly and felt her fall a little into him seeing his eyes again, but held herself away. 'I can't do this…' she thought but looked at him. Syaoran's body felt so warm, and was growing hotter and his hand's grasp was so strong as were his entire look. He was just right to make her feel weak, but repulsed at the same time.

'He was so selfish back then, has he changed that much?' Ember wondered and looked at him with wide eyes, as he was about to speak again.

"I told you how I felt that night Ember. Years ago we could have been together, I am the prince that you could marry someday. And you are the women of my heart, no matter what you choose." He admitted to her and slowly moved Ember's hands up to his lips. He smoothly pressed his lips to her warm knuckles, and turned her hand over about to kiss her palm.

'This isn't right. I.. had these thoughts about Baro. I never even got to talk to him about being friends yet.' Ember thought and tried to dismiss all of these feeling as she was brought back to earth by Syaoran.

As he moved his lips closer Ember tried to pull away but was held their as he forced his kiss in her hand, sucking on the skin on her palm. Ember almost fell completely into him when he did that, his hot lips were driving her nuts even as she felt guilty about letting him. "Syaoran!" she gasped out trying to resist this from becoming more. 'I wouldn't go with him before, but I've been so alone. That is until Baro tried to take to me.' She thought and wondered what he was up to.

"Ember, why won't you go with me?" Syaoran asked her then stood up, looking quite upset. "You always pretend like you're too good for me. You did that in every freaking thing you did back then, and still do now." He said almost wanting to roar. Ember backed up from him and softened her voice,

"That's not what it was."

"No?" He shot back at her.

"No." she said again softly and put her hands behind her back. "I need to go." She said shortly and bowed very quickly, trying to get away from him before he got angry. 'He scares me when he's like this.' Ember thought. When they were little he used to punch her arm playfully, but one day that wasn't enough and he tried to rip her clothes off when they had become teens. Now she wasn't willing to see what he could do as a big, strong man.

"I want to go see Baro." Ember said softly, not knowing what was going to happen with Syaoran and not really caring. "Baro?" she called out hoping he was still hanging around the caves. Not seeing him she continued making her way through the thick stalagmites and towards the populated base.

Back in the barracks which really was just a small open hall on the side on the main war room, Baromosa got into a little card game going on among the low ranking men. With only two other guys left in the line up, he thought he was doing pretty well. Back at home Baro was an ace with his friends, but that was very small time poker. These bets were a little more substantial and the players were very good themselves, just like him.

"Alright Fed, you're up." The larger man at the table said to Baro, referring to the federation.

"Keep your shirt on." He retorted and put out two small blue chips. "I raise ten credits. It's to you then."

The next man was skinner then either Baro or the large one, but had shifty eyes and Baro didn't trust him for a second. He looked damn near unstable, always shuffling his hand and sweating over his nose. Short, black hair looked greasy as hell too, so that didn't help.

"I call." He said and put out his ten-credit chip. "I better not her anything from you Dom." He said to the large one.

"Ok Fedy, show 'em." Dom said and scratched his fat chin as he put his cards down. "Full house." He said with a short grin.

Baro nodded looking impressed for a minute and sniffed the air. "Aye, pretty good." He conceded and tapped his fingers on his cards.

"Well, what do you have?" Dom asked and lit a small white cigarette.

"I didn't do so well I guess." Baro said looking all worried. "All I have is two pair." He said softly and gave Dom a evil smile.

"Then why are you smiling?" he asked and cocked an eyebrow suspiciously. God Baro loved to mess with people.

"I only have a pair of red nines." Baro said throwing down his two red nines. "And a pair of black ones." He said and threw down those, still having a shaky voice on purpose then smirked smugly. "Is that good?" he asked nonchalantly as the barracks broke out in laughter. You could hear Dom swear under his breath though, but laughed and gave Baro a friendly nod.

"That's good Baro." He said finally using his name. The other man at the table just threw down his cards and motioned to take his winnings as Dom kept talking. "But oh, what have we here?" he asked slickly seeing Ember walk in shyly. A wolf whistle made Ember stop and blush a little pink, waving slightly at Baro since she was still really nervous.

"Hey guys." She said and smiled softly, walking over to the table and sitting near Baro. "Are you playing games?" Ember asked hopefully since she loved playing games so much.

"As a matter a fact we are." Dom said and shifted the cigarette in his mouth. "Pull up a chair near me, I'll show you all about it." He said and smirked at her while Baro crossed his arms and looked softly at Ember.

"Can you play poker?" Baro asked, ignoring Dom's offer.

"Oh, well I learned. I'm afraid I'm not very good though." Ember said, running one hand through her hair to fix it back up in its bun. She smiled at the other boys and straightened the clinging white shirt she still wore.

All the men in the room laughed but Baro took the deck since it was his deal and shifted half of his very generous 'contributions' as he called them in front of Ember. "Take those." He said and smiled softly at her. "And try your best to keep your head above water." Baro said getting another laugh from the room watching the game.

"But wait, lets make this game more interesting." Dom said spitting out his joint and stamping it. "I'm sure money isn't something a princess has that's valuable… maybe there's something else she'd be willing to lose." He added with a hint in his voice, making Ember's eyes flash wide and dart to Baro.

"I don't think." she began to say when Syaoran came into the room. "If we're playing for what I think you are, I'm in." he said with a flick of his cloak and ripped the greasy haired man out of his seat and sat down. "The three of us then?"

Baro looked over the next three and noticed the men starting to get worked up. 'This could be bad.' He thought and saw Ember starting to breath heavier and pulling away from the crowd. Baro softly grasped her hand from under the table where no one could see, making her almost stop in time.

Ember looked over at him differently then when Syaoran touched her. This time she felt everything slow down while he turned his head and gave her a safe look, telling her it would be all right. Then just like that time sped up again.

"I'm in, but If I win Ember goes free." He said, already feeling men getting closer to touch Ember. The glares he shot those who did get too close kept them at bay though. Dom nodded and let Baro shuffle the deck.

"Don't I get a say?" Ember asked, her nose pinching in frustration.

"No." All three of them said simultaneously and smirked at each other. "Unless you want a hand in this." Baro added.

"I'm in too then." She said pushing a small amount of ante in. Ember sat up putting her hands in her lap, almost missing Baro's hand there. She glanced at him for a moment then looked back at Syaoran who was sizing her up, almost undressing her with his clothes. 'What a mess.' She thought and sat back in her chair, her mind flooding with problems.

"Alright, let's do this." Baro said and flashed the card in a flurry of shuffles faster then he had done all night. If Dom had chose to keep his cigarette, he would have dropped it seeing this.

Quickly he dealt a hand of five cards to the four, and then put the deck down with a mighty clap that left the rest of the room of silence. Even his beating heart seemed to slow in reverence of this match. After a minute or so of silence besides Ember small whining of how unfair this was, the players picked up their cards.

The first few minutes were tense, players played their best stone faces and Ember just tried to think of her cards, he forehead still pinched in anger at the fact she could be forcibly raped if Baro doesn't win. And really, who else could save her?

"Fifteen credits." Baro said firmly and placed down his money. Ember played with it in her hand before placing in on the table as the others did like wise. And so the games had begun to defend Ember's virginity which she never announced but was readily assumed to be true. Dom had every intention of claiming his prize, even if Baro would give him a good fight after the game. Syaoran eyed up Ember and was determined to take her no matter the out come of this little game, and then Baro sat by Ember, going to do his absolute best for the girl who was almost melting in the seat next to him.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

The cards were dealt by Dom first who let them float across the table to each player like the cards them selves knew where to move. Quickly each of them held five cards and all ready Ember was sweating. She did have a pretty fair face for poker, her forehead was scrunched like she was deep in frustration.

"What's are the wages?" Dom asked moving the cigar in his mouth and looking straight across the table at Baro.

"Ember I suppose, but what do the losers pay?" Syaoran said calculating her vaule with his eyes.

Baro thought about this for a moment and took off his insignia to the Federation, placing in the center of table. "It's made of several materials, but mostly gold. A would say a fair 300 pak should cover it." Ember looked over at Baro, surprised he bet so much.

'Does he really mean to protect me? He could really just want me for his own ways…' She thought but not believing it as she did so. The way his brown eyes looked out at everyone, the confidence in his jaw, it all said he was ready to fight for her.

"Alright." Dom admitted, grunting as he took some of his money out of the jacket he wore and placed in on the table. "That's the antee… Ember paid hers. Syaoran?" He asked which momentarily broke his gaze on Ember.

"Agreed." He stated and placed his money there before sitting back in his chair keeping his cards down on the table.

At first there was tension as they starred at each other, then slowly Dom asked about betting. After a few words were exchanged, Dom suggested that whoever one the pot would instead split the money with the losers and take Ember for himself. Baro shot him a questions glance trying to understand, but he understood that Dom was into more then girl. Money was also a valid currency to his lust.

Syaoran was another problem. He was a prince and money meant little to him. He could always take his pistol out and gun him down but that might make more problems then it is worth…

"Ok, we're all in. Just call." Baro said coolly and watched as Dom dealt the three Syaoran asked for. "I'll take one." He said getting a small laugh from Dom and he smiled back in return.

"One for the confident." Dom said and gave him his card and gave Ember two and then immediately after hearing her groan. "Damn it!" she swore and glared at the other three players as she threw down her cards.

Syaoran just smiled in a smirk and shuffled his cards around. "Call again." He said and laid down his cards. "Four kings." Syaoran said confidently and folded his arms still looking at Ember. He noticed how she flexed her self when angry and it made his dirty mind spin much to Baro's disgust.

Still, when Dom also groaned and sat back in his chair, Baro calmly reached for his insignia and placed in back on his shirt before smiling totally pleased with himself.

"What are you smiling about?" Syaoran said, secretly slipping his hand near his boot under the table.

"Well I guess I didn't do so good." Baro began and put down two red aces. "I have two red aces." He and thumbed the rest of his cards down. "And a pair of black ones. Is that good?" Baro asked and pushed the pot towards Dom and Syaoran, adding 300 from his jacket.

Getting up from the table he chuckled softly and Ember got up too, breathing out a sigh of relief. Of course it didn't last long.

"Wait." Syaoran said. "You paid your bet, Ember still owes 300 Pak. And I know how she can pay me for it." He stated in a hiss, reaching across the table for her arm and pulling her into him, knocking her through the table, which made her scream in pain.

"Baro!" She screamed out before a knife was at her throat in an instant. Baro moved to grab on to her but it was too late, the knife was out and he could only grit his teeth watching Syaoran. "Let he go, we already agreed on the wages." Baro said slowly trying not to get angry.

"Shut up peasant. You are not worth the space you take up, let alone to stop me from having a girl I want." Syaoran spat at him before both Dom and Baro were already on top of him. Dom had the arm with his knife, pulling it away from Ember's throat while Baro pulled Syaoran's head roughly back by his hair and slammed him into the wall, making Ember drop to the floor.

Just as this fight broke out, an alarm sounded across the base. "Intruders have entered the base, Intruders hav- **static**" Buzzed across the intercom and was shut off before men flooded into the barracks they were in. Syaoran backed down and fled off before Baro could catch him, but that didn't matter anyway.

"Ember!" Baro called and helped her up. "Come on, we have to get out of here Princess." He said close to her ear, taking her arm gently in his grasp and pulled her behind him before she could say a word.

"Ba- hey! Baro!" she complained but followed anyway, feeling all flushed from the way his hand felt. 'His hands are so smooth.' She thought and smiled to herself while they were pulled along. Small Explosions could be heard behind him as men positioned themselves behind tables and beds ready for the fight that they knew might happen.

"Captain!" Baro called and ran them over to the officer. "Where are the shuttles, I need to get the princess out of here." He said breathlessly. The officer sighed and nodded, "I'd hate to lose you Baro. We need every man we got, but go. Here's a pass, just get out of here." He called to them, throwing Baro the key card as they ran.

Getting there he gave her the key card. They were alone in the half rock, half metal hall way, together finally after all the excitement.

"Ember, take this and fly away, don't let them catch you. We can't afford anymore losses, and who knows how long they'll torture you for information." He said, his heart still beating a mile a minute.

"Baro, wait." She complained again, her wide brown eyes worried and confused while her two small hands tried to grasp around his bare arm. "Won't you come with me?" she asked, hoping he'd say yes, not just for her protection but also her happiness.

"I can't, they need me to fight. I knew they would find us here!" Baro said and tried not to think about Kaze being killed by those monsters. 'I don't want her to leave but she must be safe.' Baro thought, picturing them both meeting as teens in an arcade somewhere near home. Maybe they could have gotten chocolate shakes and saw a holo-vid at the community hub, but with the war everything was different.

"Baro, Please come with me." She said getting close to him and hiding her face in his chest. "I'm scared." She whispered softly and jumped with her arms around him when a bang startled her.

"Ok, but we need to move." He told her quickly, sliding the card into the access panel and picking her up into his arms so he could run faster across the hazardous shuttle bay. "Baro!" She complained but tightly held close to him, taking in his strong scent as Baro gently but not fazed by her complaining moved her into a shuttle. 'He smells like apples.' She thought to herself and closed her eyes.

Back in the base, Zulin's famed drone forces marched through the opposition like tissue paper. These ones here not as soft on them as the ones before, the red dot on the center of their helmet indicated these where the end all, be all, big nuts no screwing around forces of Zulin. Their weapons melted and tore through walls and armor like wax, drilling holes through the flesh they found. Men's screams of agony grew in the minutes and for those witnessing the fight but who were not engaged yet, it was a true hell to behold. And then they came, by the hundreds, small little insect like creatures. The had green skeletal like bodies and four legs they used to hop on, and nashing teeth that they ripped with when they weren't spitting gel goo at you. And if they spit gel goo, it would stick to everything around it, chemically bonding you to whatever you touched, whether it was your friends body, a beer can, or a wall, you were now a part of it.

"OH MY GOD!!! GET IT OFF! MY LEG, AIH! MY LE---aHHHH!" Screamed a private who met for the first time those horrid little insects. There was no name for them yet, but 'these little bastards' was a very common start.

Lord Falion stood there, his gray air looking silver in this light and his sword still in sheath while his minions tore through the very last of defenses.

"Milord, there defenses have crumbled. The fortress will be breached in moments." An officer for the troops buzzed over his communicator.

"Very good commander. Have Avlion or the federation officer been captured yet?" He asked, his voice raking with impatience.

"No milord, they may be working on an escape. We learned that the federation man is named Baromosa and-" He suggested and was turned off. Lord Falion had no use for excuses. If he had to, he would come after the princess himself.


End file.
